To have so much praise for our NHS nursing staff

[bombaygin]

Well...I'm currently laid in a cubicle having been brought into a&e earlier.

I'm ok but waiting for test results, possibly heart trouble.

Anyway.....the bed opposite, first was an elderly lady and now an older gentleman who is disabled. Both of them have needed help with a commode and a bed pan. I have absolute admiration for the nursing staff...the way they are doing their job and the way they are speaking to these patients...it is so heartwarming to listen to. I honestly don't know how they do it and they deserve far more recognition than they get!

Well done all you nurses out there! amazing people!

I'm sure some are.

They're paid well for it though. They're hardly emptying bedpans for the love of it.

Yes, they deserve all the respect and admiration, so much more than footballers and z list celebs. The world would literally stop turning without good healthcare providers.

I'll be surprised if it's nurses emptying bedpans, bit of a waste of their skills, especially in A&E.

They're not Florence Nightingale though. I don't think they deserve that much extra recognition over all the other people working their arses off in the hospital under shitty conditions. Modern hospitals rely on so much more than just nurses and doctors.

Nurses do empty bedpans, believe it or not they also help people to have a wash, go to the bathroom and clean their dentures. I think everyone who works with the public in any capacity deserves a bit of recognition and it never hurts to say thank you. Hope you are feeling better soon.

@bombaygin - sorry to hear that you are in A+E, i hope everything turns out to be as well as it can be.

It is lovely to hear positive feedback on the staff in the NHS. I'm not a nurse, but i am employed by the NHS, and i see everyday the effort that nurses put into their role, and the emotional impact on them of their caring role. They (and everyone i imagine) really appreciate being told when they are doing something right.

If you have the opportunity (and have not already done so) i am sure the service you are in would love to recieve your compliment directly, either via the PALS (patient advice and liason service) or a friends and family test if they have the forms available.

@cheesy my apologies, I thought it was usually a HCA job. The last time I was in A&E there weren't enough nurses to handle the nurse only jobs like handing out painkillers.

It's nice to recognise their good work. But they should be doing their job like you are seeing and they should be speaking to the patients in a caring way, it should be the norm. Often it's not so I do notice when nurses are doing their job well.

All the nurses without exception at our children's hospital have always been amazing but I can't say the same for the ones at our local hospital that I've come into contact with unfortunately.

Saying that, I do think nurses should be paid more in general. I just wish the moody unhelpful ones could be dealt with somehow.

I hope you are feeling better soon but glad you seem to have good nurses around you whilst you are poorly.

Thank you all for the well wishes. I'm fine, I got the all clear on my heart but I do feel very washed out and not well at the moment. Glad it's nothing serious though.

I know the nurses get paid etc but I just think they went over and beyond today from what I heard, they were so pleasant and I just had great respect for them. I've never understood why footballers and the like get paid thousands per week and people doing jobs like nursing get a low pay.

Also the same respect for all the cleaning ladies and everyone else for that matter. All fantastic.

I also know a few people who work in elderly care homes and they get paid a very low wage but they do one of the most important jobs there can be.

They're paid well for it though. They're hardly emptying bedpans for the love of it.

Depends what you consider well-paid. £23,000 starting for nurses in the NHS and minimum wage for HCAs. I won't even mention the pittance junior doctors get given their level of responsibility (not that they handle bedpans.)

DS2 is an A&E staff nurse, he most certainly empties bed pans. Yes he gets paid for it but it's nowhere near enough imo. The amount of abuse he puts up with from some people is quite frankly disgusting.

I hope you feel better soon bombay

I'm glad you have seen staff who are kind and caring. Too many aren't sadly.

*snurguzelly Wed 16-Jan-19 15:00:06
I'm sure some are.

They're paid well for it though. They're hardly emptying bedpans for the love of it.*

Well paid?? I'm a band 4 senior secretary - our Macmillan nurse is one band above - she has to give people news they have cancer, has a degree she studied 3+ years for and is well paid? Really???

As an NHS employee I'll suggest what I suggest to any patient who feels they weren't treated with basic respect and care - PALS and report it.

Seline Wed 16-Jan-19 23:20:09
I'm glad you have seen staff who are kind and caring. Too many aren't sadly.

Chouetted I'm a senior sister in A+E and we absolutely do all personal care!
I wouldn't ask my team to do anything that I wouldn't do myself.

It's nice to get some appreciation. It's so busy at the moment. We are at breaking point. Mentally and physically.

Hope you are ok op

100% agree. I've had to stay for pretty much 8months in hospital and I've met the most caring and amazing human beings I've come across. Thank you to the wonderful NHS nurses and staff that looked after me ❤️❤️

Hope you feel better soon bombay - you must be relieved it's nothing serious with your heart.

I won't even mention the pittance junior doctors get given their level of responsibility (not that they handle bedpans.)

I handled my share of bedpans as a junior doctor! I still handle my share in recovery if needed, or performing personal care such as washing in theatre if patients require it now I'm a consultant. I wouldn't expect the nurses to do anything I wasn't also prepared to pitch in with, assuming I was capable of doing it.

@dalmatianmad I never meant to suggest that you didn't do any of it! That would be ludicrous.

I'm struggling to believe you do all of it though, that must be a typo! Or you're actually omnipresent, in which case we've just solved the NHS crisis

Are there no HCAs in A&E at all, then? I did visit a relative in hospital last year, who moved wards several times, and it seemed to be a very real trend that there was a shortage of nurses, and they were compensating by having extra HCAs. All on the whiteboard by the nurses station in black and white.

When I was in A&E overnight - not enough nurses, not even to replace people going on breaks. When I was admitted to hospital the next day, not enough nurses again. I'm thrilled to hear in your A&E that they're all giving bedpans.

Anyway, it was only supposed to be a throwaway comment pointing out that not all people giving care are nurses...

I can't thank the nurses who looked after me enough, 2 months in hospital and I got to see what they do first hand and some of it ain't pretty, but some of the patients were really abusive too and I don't know how the staff put up with their entitlement and nastiness because I couldn't.
Hope you feel better soon OP

Yip I agree. To a certain extent. I spent 2 weeks in a high dependency ward, and the nurses were absolutely fantastic. Lovely people and nothing was too much trouble for them.

When I was moved to a general ward, everything seemed to be such an inconvenience for those nurses. Short tempered, having to press the buzzer 3 or 4 times before getting their attention where they’d wander in and ask ‘what is it’ huffily.

I figured it was the difference in the ratio of patients to nurses. In critical care the nurses only had 2 patients each, general ward seemed so much more.

Chouetted of course we have HCA's. We would be stuffed without them. They do the most amazing job.
In my department we work as one big team and if the nurses and HCA's are busy and a patient needed personal care I would ask one of the Dr's to do it.
There's no hierarchy. We're all here for the same thing-our patients!

I'm glad you have seen staff who are kind and caring. Too many aren't sadly.

Same can be said for patients these days. Just replace kind and caring with polite and not abusive. No complaints process for patients who are utter arseholes sadly.